August 16th - August 31st, 2008

Before I begin explaining what we did in August of last year, I must explain how our church, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, is organized. First of all I'll give a basic visual aid that might help.

FAMILY - BRANCH - WARD - STAKE

The most basic unit of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints is the FAMILY. The family is the fundamental unit in the Church, and home is the most important place for gospel learning. No other organization can take the place of the family. The Church's purpose is and will always be to support and strengthen families and individuals in their efforts to live the gospel. (This is quoted directly from the Church website at: www.lds.org)

FAMILIES are organized into CONGREGATIONS that meet together frequently for spiritual and social enrichment. Small congregations are called BRANCHES. Large congregations are called WARDS. Then the wards and branches are divided into STAKES. There are usually 5 to 12 wards and brances in a stake, depending on the geographic area and number of people all together.

I belong to the Slate Canyon 4th Ward, which is a part of the Provo, Utah Stake. I hope this all makes sense! SO....each year in August our entire Stake gets together and has a giant Stake Party. There are hundreds of people there, which makes it a really neat event. Every year the Stake Party also has a theme, and this time it was the August 16th Stake Fiesta!

We have a great number of Latino families that have moved into the Provo area, so having a fiesta was a great way to get to know more about the Latino culture. As part of this Stake Fiesta, we had authentic Latino food and authentic Latino entertainment. While we ate dinner, we were accompanied by a band that was really great!

Vaughn was having the time of his life listening to the music and eating the food. You couldn't tell it from this picture though! I tried to get him to smile, but he wanted to finish his watermelon, so this was more of a grimace than anything. You can't tell here, but he had watermelon juice all over his face and shirt.

As I said before, there were hundreds of people at the party.

And I couldn't get a good shot of how crowded it was and how long the food lines were....but these will give you a small idea.

As part of the entertainment for the kids, there was a giant waterslide down the hill. Vaughn wouldn't go near it alone, so Brian and I took turns waiting in line with him. The funny thing is when he finally got to the top, he REFUSED to go down!!! I tried to encourage him. I even used a little force, but he utterly refused. And I utterly refused to go down with him because I had just had a baby!!! At least we had a fun time waiting in line, watching the other kids go down and crash at the end!

The Monday after the Stake Fiesta, I decided to put up the beets in our garden. We had a nice beet crop, and I was really excited to pickle the beets for Momma (my mom) and for two elderly men I know in our neighborhood (Melvin Kuhni and LaVon Fife). And I know it's probably a little weird, but I like to take pictures of the produce I get from the garden. It helps to remind me of the reward I get at the end of ALL THAT WORK!


Here is a closeup of some of the beets. Beets have an almost purple color inside. And here's a warning! If you eat beets they will turn red everything that comes out of you! So don't freak out when you go to the bathroom after eating beets and see red in the toilet. (My neighbor thought she was dying and went into the doctor. They both had a good laugh when they figured out she had eaten beets earlier that day!)


Below is a picture of the various sizes of beets I picked from our garden. The largest one was just as wide as my hand, and I have big hands!


Pickled beets look quite different from regular bottled beets. Pickled beets turn a beautiful dark purple color due to the ingredients used to pickle them. They are so pretty to look at that I always keep one jar for decoration purposes. I'm not a huge fan of beets, but the people I love are! I am always looking for ways to thank those who have helped me throughout the year, and this is a perfect way!


Here's a good look at how beautiful that dark purple color is!


On Thursday, August 21st, I picked the first cantaloupe from our garden. It looked beautiful and tasted perfectly sweet and delicious.


That day I also decided to make salsa with the abundance of produce we had. I love to garden, and I particularly love how fresh produce looks and tastes! The onions were no exception!


I particularly love to photograph the vegetables I use to make salsa. There is something so pleasing to me about the colors. So here is everything washed, trimmed and ready to make into salsa!


I got a small food processor when Brian and I were first married, and it has been infinitely useful, especially when I have made salsa. It cuts the onions and peppers into the perfect size, and also makes the salsa uniform. I don't particularly like large chunks of anything in my salsa, but I also don't like it pureed.


You can see how the consistency of this salsa is pretty uniform. My favorite ingredient in this homemade salsa is Cilantro. (Sorry Leslie! I'll have to make some for you without the Cilantro!) I don't remember who introduced me to the stuff, but I can't get enough of it! It is an excellent addition to any salsa, and it is also fantastic in a lot of dinner recipes I use now. Brian is also a huge fan, so that helps!


And here is the finished product. I was able to get 84 pints of salsa just from one-days picking from the garden. That's quite a bit, considering we don't have an extremely large garden! I have been known to eat an entire pint of salsa a day during summer months. It is so refreshing and full of good stuff. I have it for breakfast, lunch and dinner...just chips and salsa. Yum!!!

The next day Brian's sister Amy dropped by with her son Sammy for just a little bit. Vaughn immediately asked if he could play the "game-game" with Sammy, which meant playing Brian's arcades. Sammy and Vaughn had the time of their lives. There is a mystic bond that occurs when two people play vintage arcade games together. I can't explain it...it just IS. :)


Sammy was taking a turn on the Ms. Pac Man arcade, and Amy got really into it. She was so excited for Sammy to get to the next board, that she found herself helping him! I had to take a picture just for Amy. She actually got more into it than Sammy did! Arcades transcend time and space. They are perfect for any gender, any age. (I'm not really this weird. I just like to hamm it up once in a while!)


In 2008 we were on a later Sunday church schedule, which meant we attended church from 1:00 to 4:00 pm. It's a lot harder when you have kids, especially young kids, since it's during their nap time. But the mornings are cosy and fun. Every Sunday Vaughn would wake up and come and lie in bed next to us and we would talk with him and tickle him. And since Vaughn had a new brother, he was particularly excited to be next to him and hold him, as we usually had Dean in bed with us.


Vaughn loved to just lie next to Dean and let Dean touch him. Vaughn was also VERY tender with Dean, giving him hundreds of kissing and hugs. Each time Dean touched him, Vaughn would giggle and smile. There is just something about a newborn!


I guess Dean wasn't exactly a brand new baby anymore, but he was still acting like one! Dean had a lot of digestive problems, so he was up at least 6 times a night. His average was around 8 to 10 times a night, but you couldn't tell from this picture! He seemed perfectly normal. I guess if I had taken a picture of me it would have been much easier to see the toll it was taking!
He had quite the content expression here, didn't he?


Back to the garden! Our second cantaloupe was ready just three days after our first one, and it was just as tasty as the first! There's nothing quite like a chilled melon. We're not very successful when it comes to growing watermelons, but cantaloupe does pretty well. It is always a treat for us to eat, especially when it's really hot outside!


That evening, Sunday the 24th, we decided to get out of the house and get some fresh air. I was almost delirious with the lack of sleep I had with Dean, but I also needed to get out. So we took Vaughn to a local park and enjoyed a perfect late afternoon and evening. Vaughn was ecstatic! He LOVES going to the park to play, and he made the most of every minute!


Vaughn is a very cautious kid. He is so cautious that sometimes I worry about him. He wouldn't go across the monkey bars without Brian right there next to him. But the great thing about Vaughn is that once he has analized the situation and made a very cautious and careful attempt, he goes full-steam ahead.


Here I am holding little Dean. It must have been quite a shock for him to emerge out of the house into a world of bright colors, sunshine and yelling kids!


Here's Vaughn again, this time crossing the bars with more enthusiasm. I have to say that I do see Vaughn's desire to study out situations as a strength. I'd rather that be the case than him not think about things!


I don't know why Vaughn is making the most grumpy face of all-time here. He was actually extremely excited. I guess I just caught him at the wrong moment. He was very proud of himself for hanging there alone. Maybe he was upset that Daddy wasn't there with him. What a cutie!!!


After the park we decided to drop by Julie's condo. She had a small trampoline out, which Vaughn took to immediately. He and Julie jumped on it together for quite a while, and he held her hands and giggled the entire time.


Julie's roommate Michelle was there, and she loved taking a turn holding Dean. He was happy to be in her arms, and proved it by drifting off into dreamland.


Two days later, on Tuesday the 26th of August, we picked out third cantaloupe, along with some nice zucchini and a good number of tomatoes. There's nothing like a fresh tomato cut into thick slices and seasoned with just a little bit of salt.


Laura came over to visit just as I was getting some lunch for Vaughn. He was very excited to see her and busted out a cute smile.


Laura took the opportunity to hold little Dean, and he immediately calmed down and drifted off to sleep. Aunt Laura has "the touch." Every single time she comes over to see Dean, all she has to do is get him in her arms and he relaxes. She sings a little sone and he turns to butter. I don't know how she does it, but I love it! And Dean doesn't just relax, he goes into this coma-like sleep. Since he doesn't really sleep at all the rest of the time, I am so grateful!!!
Laura is my guardian angel. She is so good with Vaughn and Dean and she has this way of calming them down. She also helps me to be calm with the kids. I love it! You're the best Laura!

And here's one for the road.....

Thanks Laura!!!

Love, Lisa

Happy 3rd Birthday Vaughn!!!
(August 12, 2008)

August 12th 2008. My baby has finally grown out of the toddler stage and is now a big boy with a little brother to teach the ropes to. Here is a picture of Vaughn taken on the evening of his 3rd birthday. I must say he is quite handsome!!!

We decided that for Vaughn's birthday we would take him to a place called The Bean Museum. No, it isn't a museum that explains the history of beans. It's an animal museum named after a guy with the last name of Bean. So this snake is what we encountered when we first walked in the door. We waited in a relatively short line to get the chance to see it up close and touch it. Vaughn was VERY apprehensive for obvious reason. Who wouldn't be scared of a 20-foot Boa Constrictor?

I guess I wasn't. But that's only because I'd had previous experience with giant snakes when I was in the 3rd or 4th grade. I was on a field trip that included seeing a giant snake for some reason. I got chosen along with two or three other kids to let a giant Boa Constrictor slither all over me. It was one of the weirdest sensations I've ever experienced. I guess the instructor was counting on the thing NOT constricting and squeezing the life out of me. So here I am trying to convince Vaughn that he could touch the snake.

Eventually (and I mean after we had toured part of the museum and gotten back in line to try a second attempt at touching the snake) Vaughn got up enough courage to barely touch the snake with the ends of two fingers. I guess he figured this was the safest approach. What a cutie!!!

After (barely) touching ONE snake scale Vaughn somehow became fearless. We left the snake line and found a giant Grizzly bear. Vaughn transformed into a ferocious creature and here's the picture to prove it. Doesn't he (I mean the bear) look scary?!? Did I mention that this museum consists mostly of stuffed animals? (And no, I don't mean the cuddly cute kind you can get in a store!)

Vaughn was very happy to find another bear exhibit, and this time he put away the man-eating bear in himself and let a cute grin come out. Doesn't he look proud?

The zebra exhibit was right next to the lion exhibit. I think I took a picture of the lions, but for some reason I couldn't find it on my camera. Oh well. I'd probably be too scared to look at it anyway. There is one lion there in particular that scares the living soup out of me. All I can imagine is that sucker coming for me and ripping my head off. Yikes! So for your sake and mine, here's a not-so-scared me carrying a one-month-old Dean.

Vaughn quickly found a display with a giant spider. Have I ever mentioned that I am deathly afraid of giant spiders? This one was actually mammoth-sized in my view. I could barely get the courage to take a picture of Vaughn pointing at it. Vaughn is of course obsessed with Spiderman, so any kind of spider, whether living or dead is very cool to him. A pane of glass stood between the killer spider and my son. It didn't matter to me that the spider was dead. I wanted so badly to tell Vaughn not to go near it!!!

There were tons of animals to look at, from wild buffalo to prairie dogs. But this monkey particularly caught my eye for some reason. I think it was the huge nostrils at the end of an elongated snout. Almost pig-like, don't you think?

The rhinoceros is definitely one of my favorite exhibits. Did you know that as a general rule the rhino is a VERY ill-tempered animal? He likes to keep to himself as much as possible. And when he lies low to the ground or hides in weeds or bushes, it's a sure signal to keep away! And did you also know that those aren't really horns? They're actually very hardened fibrous growths! You could have fooled me!

This might be my most favorite of all the exhibits....the Jaguar! I have a collection of old Disney nature shows called True Life Adventures. My favorite of all of them is the one about jaguars and is called The Jungle Cat. I have always been fascinated with the jungle, and a cat living in the jungle is even better! Did you know that jaguars spend quite a bit of time in water? There is a lot of water in a jungle, and the jaguar has to hunt prey that uses water as a protection and an escape method. A mother jaguar will take her young to a swimming hole and actually teach them to swim. I've also seen footage of a giant male jaguar (panther) catching and killing a fish and a crocodile! That's nuts!!!

Needless to say we really enjoyed the experience at the museum! And now onto lunch!

Vaughn loves Chinese food, so after a long tour of the museum, we took him out to lunch at a local Chinese restaurant. Yes, I take pictures of food, so what?! It helps me to relive the moment. It's like tasting it all over again! (We don't eat out much!)


After a hearty meal Vaughn was given the customary fortune cookie. I wish I could say his fortune was something incredible and mystic, but in reality it was so boring that we just threw it away. It was something like, "...you are true to yourself...." BORING!!! I mean come on. They used to actually somewhat predict the future. (You can tell this really means a lot to me).

I guess it didn't bother Vaughn too much to not have a cool fortune. He was very happy with his meal and his smile proved it!

Late that afternoon, after recovering from the museum and eating out, we made our way over to Brian's parents' house in Springville. Some of Vaughn's cousins were there to meet him, and they immediately went out to play on the new swing set/playhouse that Brian's parents had purchased. Vaughn was totally delighted when his older cousin Alex let him sit on her lap and they did a two-person swing!

I was so happy that Emily brought Autumn and Prairie over as well. (Bubby was sick that night). Autumn and Prairie really enjoyed playing in the playhouse as well. They built the playhouse in their backyard right in front of a window so you can just sit inside and watch the kids from the TV room. It makes it so handy when you just want to relax. It's also fun just to sit there at watch the kids play. Kids have so much energy!!!

We let the kids get out as much energy as possible. Then Dean let out a wail, almost as if to say, "Where's the cake and ice cream? Where are the presents?" So we called the kids in for the party! Actually, this is one of the saddest pictures I've ever seen. This is how poor Dean spent the first six months of his life...miserable! I'm so glad that we finally figured out how to help him and he is now eating well and feeling so much better!

It was very obvious that we had to have a Spiderman theme for Vaughn's birthday. I don't usually like the cake designs I see in stores, so I opted to design my own Spiderman for the top of the cake. I picked out a face a liked, printed it out and used it as a guide for decorating the cake. I was really happy with how it turned out, and most importantly, so was Vaughn!

When we called all the kids in, they all came and sat around the island with Vaughn. There were Spiderman balloons, a Spiderman tablecloth, the Spiderman cake.... Vaughn couldn't help but shoot a Spiderman web from his wrists. It was the only way he could express his excitement!


We decided to open presents first because Amy and her kids had to leave. So McKay excitedly handed Vaughn the present he had brought for him. I love the look of anticipation on McKay's face as he waits to see how Vaughn will react.


Vaughn actually was so excited about this Star Destroyer that he didn't want to open any other gifts! (Vaughn doesn't let excitement show in his face when he's really excited. He concentrates and spazzes). Here's McKay showing Vaughn how to push the buttons that make noises. It was a great gift that Vaughn still enjoys playing with!

I was in Wal-Mart and saw a pair of Spiderman shoes that lit up when they touched the ground. I had to get them for Vaughn, mostly because they were on clearance! The first thing Vaughn did when he saw them was point to the spider webs on the side. (Vaughn has decided to greet people now by stomping his right foot down to make his shoe light up. He doesn't have to utter a word. You wouldn't believe the number of people that have stopped to ask him about his shoes. I've met more people in the last several months since his birthday than in the last several years combined!)

Autumn and Prairie brought some very special gifts for Vaughn. I also can't find the picture of the drawing that Autumn did for Vaughn. It had Donald Duck on it, and it was so precious! We put it up in Vaughn's room where he could look at it whenever he wanted. Here is Prairie very anxious to see Vaughn open their present to him!

You can see Vaughn holding Autumn's drawing and they also gave him some Otter Pops. Those are the BEST on a hot summer day, and Vaughn asked if he could have one right away. I had to try to explain that they needed to be frozen first!

THIS is the look that Prairie gave when she saw the Otter Pops! I LOVE IT! She loves Otter Pops, as is obvious by looking at her expression. She also gave a little scream to go along with her cute look!

Autumn had a more reserved approach as she watched Vaughn read her card and look at her drawing. I loved seeing the satisfaction in her face as we all took turns looking at her great drawing. Autumn knew Vaughn liked Donald Duck a lot, and took great care in designing the card for Vaughn. Thanks Autumn!!!

I have no idea what Laura was saying to Autumn here, but I really liked the expression on Autumn's face, so I thought I'd add it in here!

Next Vaughn opened his card from Grandpa Poopa and Momma Isis. Contained inside were some truly awesome treasures for Vaughn. (How do grandparents know how to spoil their grandkids so well? It seems to come naturally to them!) Vaughn couldn't believe his eyes when he saw this GIANT "Spiderman Black" (as he called it) sticker.

Brian tried to explain to Vaughn that he really was seeing what he thought he was seeing.
(I think Vaughn was in a little bit of shock.)

It took a minute or two of staring, and Vaughn finally let the excitement show ever-so-slightly in his face. If you look closely you can see just a tiny hint of a smile there!

Then of course, Vaughn had to show everyone his new sticker. It was so cute!

If Vaughn was slightly shocked when he saw the "Spiderman Black" sticker, he was in definite shock when he pulled this one out! Yes, that is a look of pure anticipation on his face. He couldn't wait to see what was on the other side.

And here's his reaction to seeing all those COOL Spiderman window decals! What an awesome present Momma and Poopa! (And by the way, Vaughn LOVES to put these decals EVERYWHERE. We watch many a movie with the decals on the TV screen. He loves to put them there because it makes the decals look like they're moving.) Oh! Momma and Poopa also included some balloons in with the stickers. We used them to decorate for the party. Thanks Momma and Poopa!

Grandma and Grandpa Higginson also gave Vaughn a gift, but for some reason I don't have any pictures of it. They gave Vaughn some containers of Play-Doh and an interactive learning CD to play on the computer. Vaughn has spent MANY hours playing with both since then!!!!

And finally we move on to Vaughn's last gift. Brian was really excited for Vaughn to open this one, because he took a lot of time to get it made for him!

Yes...that's a giant poster of the front of the 200th issue of The Amazing Spiderman comic book. Again, Vaughn doesn't show a lot of facial expression when he's super excited. And he was definitely SUPER excited when he saw this poster!!! He could barely allow himself to touch it he was so excited. In fact....

....when Brian held the poster up for Vaughn to get a good view of it....Vaughn gave him this look! It was as if he was saying, "Are you kidding me?!?!" It was a perfect reaction!!!

Laura had to leave right after that, so we got a quick picture before she left. I really like Laura's hair with the bangs like they are here. I think I need to take some hair-styling tips from Laura because (as you've already noticed) my hair looked horrible! I think I need to be on Oprah on one of her extreme makeover shows. Can I just saw that Laura is GORGEOUS?!?! Two of my favorite features about her are her bright eyes and her perfect teeth. Yep. I've got a supermodel for a sister.

We decided to end the party with cake of course. And before we cut into it I was able to get Vaughn to take a picture holding his cake. It was a great gift to me to see him so happy about his cake because I had worked so hard on it!

I couldn't resist putting in this picture of Prairie! I adore that girl. I get the biggest kick out of her mannerisms. She totally attacked her piece of cake and I love her for it! (For some reason this reminds me of a certain gal named Laura when she's eating a Hostess cupcake!)

After cake and ice cream we let the kids each pick a balloon to play with. The kids spent a good amount of time in the kitchen hitting each other with the balloons and letting out screams of pure joy! It was the perfect way for them to get out all their energy without killing each other. Balloon fights are really fun because there's always that chance that a balloon will pop and scare the socks off of everyone!

I'll leave you with three of my favorite pictures from that evening. The first one is of Prairie, that little cutie! If I remember correctly, she was just about to get her own balloon here.

Here's the same picture I put at the very beginning of this entry. Vaughn just looks so grown up here. I can't believe he's already three! I think this really captures his personality. What a handsome young man!

This is definitely one of my favorite pictures of all time. Autumn looks positively stunning here! She has grown into quite a beautiful young lady with a very sweet heart. I can't get over those eyes!

Thanks to everyone who made Vaughn's birthday such a great experience! Oh! I almost forgot to thank Uncle Jared for the awesome tablecloth and cool Spiderman balloons!

Love, Lisa